My nephew and his wife have been hosting xmas dinner for the last few years and they prepare Virginia baked ham and Yankee pot roast for the mains. Anything except turkey is the family motto. THe rest of the family adds all the proper trimmings and desserts. I supply the wines both red and white. They figure I'm ITB and obtain wine at a better cost. Red usually is a Cotes du Rhone and the white I will choose when I see what's available at the store. Reds much easier to choose than white because there's a much better selection red. The wines selected are better than most of the family is used to drinking but I will not drink bad wine if I can help it.

It's always been lasagna on Christmas eve, until last year and I did a variation on Jenise's rolled. stuffed pork loin. It was a big hit. Christmas day is often tortiere. I usually save a big beef dinner for New Year's Eve.

No firm tradition, but we often do goose. Last year goose and beef tenderloin were mainsYear before a crown pork roast and mushroom lasagnaYear before that double bird - goose and capon.

Night before is usually Feast of the 7 Fishes (usually at sister in laws), No one is Italian-American, but SiL and niece are pesce-vegetarians. I generally go to the streets after late service on Christmas Eve, so only have one glass of wine on Eve. Goose plus another meat gives me lots of options for wine matching on Christmas Day to make up.

Howie Hart wrote:It's always been lasagna on Christmas eve, until last year and I did a variation on Jenise's rolled. stuffed pork loin. It was a big hit. Christmas day is often tortiere. I usually save a big beef dinner for New Year's Eve.

Howie/Jenise,Could you please direct me to a link to this method or recipe? It sounds perfect for a dinner party we are having Tuesday night. I've been struggling with coming up with just the right thing to make and this sounds like it!Thanks!

Hello. My name is Carrie, and I...I....still like oaked Chardonnay. (Please don't judge.)

Thank you Howie (and Jenise). You guys inpsired me to make a stuffed braised veal breast with a smiliar stuffing of mushrooms, proscuitto, rosemary and parm. It's Anne Burrell's recipe and it got five stars. I'll let you know how it is! Now I just need to come up with appetizers, salads, sides, etc! Open to suggestions!

Hello. My name is Carrie, and I...I....still like oaked Chardonnay. (Please don't judge.)

On years when we celebrate Christmas with my family in Portland, it's prime rib and salmon on Christmas Eve and something relaxed and informal on Christmas day (a tradition rooted in a complicated past). On alternate years, when we're in Florida with Jean's family, it's usually turkey on Christmas day, though that might change now that Jean's parents have relocated to be near her brother and sis-in-law.

Christmas Eve is always a crab feed. Gene and I provide the crab, someone a salad, and eldest son always makes something for youngest son who does not eat crab, and for the kids. This year we are going with extra crab to take to my step mom who is in an independent living facility. We will make crab sandwiches for all of us for lunch. Should be fun!

We often get together with a bunch of our snarky buddies on Christmas afternoon and go out to Vietnam Kitchen, a great little hole-in-the-wall in our town's mini-Southeast Asian neighborhood. Mmm ... I'm thinking about some Banh Xeo and a big bowl of pho right now ...

Mike Filigenzi wrote:Some sort of roasted cow has been our tradition. We've done prime rib. tenderloin, and a couple of other cuts over the years. Not sure what we'll end up with this time.

Us too. This year I might do a Wellington. I have potentially 6 to 10 guests, two with very serious health issue (like, one just had her lower intestines removed Thursday) so might not know until the last second whether they'll make it. I invited them knowing that, just wanting them to have the warm embrace of knowing they have a place to go but no pressure.

One sure-thing Christmas tradition: corned beef hash for breakfast on Xmas day, with lots of red and green bell pepper for the great Xmas color.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Karen/NoCA wrote:Christmas Eve is always a crab feed. Gene and I provide the crab, someone a salad, and eldest son always makes something for youngest son who does not eat crab, and for the kids. This year we are going with extra crab to take to my step mom who is in an independent living facility. We will make crab sandwiches for all of us for lunch. Should be fun!

That;s kind of the height of your crabbing season down there, right? What a great Christmas treat.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Thank you Howie (and Jenise). You guys inpsired me to make a stuffed braised veal breast with a smiliar stuffing of mushrooms, proscuitto, rosemary and parm. It's Anne Burrell's recipe and it got five stars. I'll let you know how it is! Now I just need to come up with appetizers, salads, sides, etc! Open to suggestions!

Carrie - do report back on that veal and post the recipe if you liked it....making me hungry!!

Thank you Howie (and Jenise). You guys inpsired me to make a stuffed braised veal breast with a smiliar stuffing of mushrooms, proscuitto, rosemary and parm. It's Anne Burrell's recipe and it got five stars. I'll let you know how it is! Now I just need to come up with appetizers, salads, sides, etc! Open to suggestions!

Carrie - do report back on that veal and post the recipe if you liked it....making me hungry!!

Okay, reporting back....This is the recipe I saw that sounded really good http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/stuffed-braised-veal-breast-recipe/index.html, despite never having had or even laid eyes on a veal breast. I ordered one from our "fancy" grocery store in town. When it came in (the day before our dinner party) the butcher plopped it up on the counter and I'm thinking to myself, "What in the H-LL have I gotten myself into???" I'm not sure what I pictured it to look like, but this was not it! So with the butcher's help, we decided to slice off the rib section and cut a nice 6LB "chunk" of roast. It looked almost like a brisket, but not as red, obviously. When I got it home, I tried pounding it as the recipe suggests, but my mallet just bounced back at me. Not sure what the pounding was supposed to accomplish and I guess we'll never know. I stuffed and tied it, then seasoned it and put it in the fridge until the next day. The next day I continued following the recipe, which by the way, makes about twice too much stuffing. It wouldn't all fit and squished out the bottom. Maybe if the roast would have flattened with the pounding, it might have fit, but that was not to be. Next time I will halve the amount of stuffing. I have to say, I was VERY nervous aobut this roast, and I'm not usually a nervous cook, or hostess. Just never having worked with a breast, I wasn't sure what to expect. I used the oblong Le Crueset and actually cooked it on top of the rib portion, thinking that may add flavor and or juiciness. The recipe says the serve with reduced sauce and onions, but my onions were complete mush, so I decided to strain it and put it in my fat separator. It was a little too salty, so I added a little hot water, more wine and broth (I use low salt) and reduced a little more. The meal got rave reviews. In fact, it got more rave reviews than any dinner party I've ever had. Our guests were positively gushing with compliments. I served the roast with Marscapone Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Brussels Sprouts. Should have taken more photos of the process, but I did take two.... The second photo is of the "leftovers" so at least you could see how the roast looked when cut (this was the end cut). Also sharing a photo of my little appetizer platter, because I think it came out kinda cute.